Was it necessary to put female in the title?

[Cheddar George]

I can understand Admin moving this from "Cyclist Down" but i don't think that cafe is the natural home for this.

 

[asterix]

What is going on? Someone has died and all this bickering...

 

[lukesdad]

I can understand Admin moving this from "Cyclist Down" but i don't think that cafe is the natural home for this.

Yup lock it upon CA&D.

 

[MarkF]

I don't see the word as necessary either, but I saw it as just a useful adjective, because my assumption would have been that the victim was male.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

What is going on? Someone has died and all this bickering...

Yes, the original thread got overburdened with other issues so Shaun appears to have separated the 'cyclist down' content into its own forum and this thread is now more focused on the gender in language question.

 

[StuartG]

What is going on? Someone has died and all this bickering...

No disrespect was shown to the victim. Our concern was shown in different ways. When these may be unhelpful it is unhelpful to not to mention it.

The whole purpose of Cyclists Down is surely to learn from it? A load of RIPs do less to do that then a discussion on the relevance or not of victim's gender or whether she was actually a cyclist at the time.

 

[byegad]

For me a cyclist is a cyclist is a cyclist. I'm not that interested in the race, sex, sexual orientation or politics of the rider in this sort of case.

 

[DWiggy]

This thread should be binned! Sorry but so pointless and insensitive!

 

[Spinney]

The 'RIP' aspects of the thread have been moved into the new Cyclist Down forum. What remains is about the use of language.

 

[Sandra6]

Journalists do this all the time in headlines. They must have a rule about the number of adjectives that have to be used.
It's not just adding "female" but they'll say "middle aged man" or "single mother" and even "unemployed man" when those things have absolutely no relevance to the story.

 

[Shaun]

This thread should be binned! Sorry but so pointless and insensitive!

I've edited the thread title to remove the reference to the original thread. I left it intact as a pointer to those who'd been involved in the discussion yesterday.

 

[MontyVeda]

I'm not surprised you think that Potsy, but if it's made you or anyone else on here more aware of casual, unthinking sexism in their everyday use of language then that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

I'm sorry, but merely mentioning a person is one sex or the other is not sexism, casual or otherwise.

 

[Cheddar George]

Why not? Not trivial enough perhaps?

Damn right.

Potsy is so traumatised he's drinking coffee and Arch has lost half a digestive she was dunking in her tea.

This in no way suggests that women have inferior biscuit dunking skills.

 

[StuartG]

For me a cyclist is a cyclist is a cyclist. I'm not that interested in the race, sex, sexual orientation or politics of the rider in this sort of case.

Of course a cyclist is a cyclist is a cyclist.

However, if you think other factors discourage any particular part of our community from becoming a competent cyclist then should you not take an interest why and whether any action should be taken? As for cycle clubs the size and status of the trophies and ceremonies can often have a gender component. We males seldom notice except when a female points it out. The patronising reception they may get doesn't encourage it. And when someone doggedly pursues it then we get threads like this, being shunted off into a corner and so on ...

 

[ayceejay]

Words have meaning and should be used carefully. In certain circles the word 'cyclist' let alone 'cyclist killed' will cause a stir add 'female' to the mix and Bob's yer uncle. As an example: what if the thread title on a cycling forum read 'fellow cyclist down' which was probably the intention (me being a mind reader) the implication being that this effects us all.